Pelagic Sargassum in the Tropical North Atlantic

Franks, James S.; Johnson, Donald R.; Ko, Dong S.

doi:10.18785/gcr.2701.08

Cited by 98 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The highest densities of particles are found along the coast of Brazil and along the equator, suggesting again the potential for a southern source for Sargassum in the tropics. These results are consistent with recent evidence of links between the equatorial population and beachings of Sargassum in the Caribbean (Franks et al 2016). Of particular interest, our results suggest a pathway for connectivity between the putative large equatorial population (Gower et al 2013) and the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.…”

Section: The Role Of Advectionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Reverse-time modeling and observed drifters suggest that Sargassum from recent beaching events in the eastern Caribbean and Brazil may have originated in the equatorial region (Franks et al 2011(Franks et al , 2016. Biomass in the tropics is highest in the summer, during the period of eastward retroflection of the Amazon plume in the North Equatorial Counter Current.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In situ observations confirm that Sargassum natans occurs off the coast of Brazil, south of the presumed range (Széchy et al 2012, Sissini et al 2017. Franks et al (2016) suggest this is related to a recirculation in the tropical gyre. These range and biomass changes coincide with an increase in reports of beaching events affecting fishing and tourism from Africa to the Caribbean (Franks et al 2011, Smetacek & Zingone 2013, which prompted the development of a satellite-based Sargassum early warning system for the region (Webster & Linton 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Observations of pelagic Sargassum off the coast of Africa are relatively recent in the literature (Oyesiku & Egunyomi 2011, Gower & et al 2013), but evidence from local fishing communities suggests it has been present over at least several decades, although not at current densities (Ackah-Baidoo 2013). A modest export of Sargassum from a region such as the Gulf of Guinea, combined with favorable growth conditions, could be contributing to the high biomass across the tropical Atlantic (Franks et al 2016).…”

Section: Sargassum Seed Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Factors controlling the seasonal distribution of pelagic Sargassum

Brooks¹,

Coles²,

Hood³

et al. 2018

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: The Role Of Advectionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Sargassum Seed Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Factors controlling the seasonal distribution of pelagic Sargassum

Brooks¹,

Coles²,

Hood³

et al. 2018

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Specifically, Sargassum in the CS did not initiate locally but from the CWA following the prevailing winds and currents. This observation is supported by the back‐tracking results through ocean modeling [ Doyle and Franks , ; Franks et al ., , , ; Johnson et al ., ]. Therefore, the prediction is supported by physics, even though the method is based on statistics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting Sargassum blooms in the Caribbean Sea from MODIS observations

Wang

2017

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recurrent and significant Sargassum beaching events in the Caribbean Sea (CS) have caused serious environmental and economic problems, calling for a long‐term prediction capacity of Sargassum blooms. Here we present predictions based on a hindcast of 2000–2016 observations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which showed Sargassum abundance in the CS and the Central West Atlantic (CWA), as well as connectivity between the two regions with time lags. This information was used to derive bloom and nonbloom probability matrices for each 1° square in the CS for the months of May–August, predicted from bloom conditions in a hotspot region in the CWA in February. A suite of standard statistical measures were used to gauge the prediction accuracy, among which the user's accuracy and kappa statistics showed high fidelity of the probability maps in predicting both blooms and nonblooms in the eastern CS with several months of lead time, with overall accuracy often exceeding 80%. The bloom probability maps from this hindcast analysis will provide early warnings to better study Sargassum blooms and prepare for beaching events near the study region. This approach may also be extendable to many other regions around the world that face similar challenges and opportunities of macroalgal blooms and beaching events.

show abstract

Sargassum spp. Ethanolic Extract Elicits Toxic Responses and Malformations in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Embryos

González‐Penagos,

Zamora‐Briseño,

Améndola‐Pimenta

et al. 2024

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The amount of Sargassum spp. arriving in the Caribbean Sea has increased steadily in the last few years, producing a profound environmental impact on the ecological dynamics of the coasts of the Yucatan Peninsula. We characterized the toxicological effects of an ethanolic extract of Sargassum spp. on zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos (ZFEs) in a 96‐h static bioassay using T1 (0.01 mg/L), T2 (0.1 mg/L), T3 (1 mg/L), T4 (10 mg/L), T5 (25 mg/L), T6 (50 mg/L), T7 (75 mg/L), T8 (100 mg/L), T9 (200 mg/L), and T10 (400 mg/L). In this extract, we detected 74 compounds by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS), of which hexadecanoic acid methyl ester, and 2‐pentanone 4‐hydroxy‐4‐methyl, were the most abundant. In ZFEs, a median lethal concentration of 251 mg/L was estimated. Exposed embryos exhibited extensive morphological changes, including edema in the yolk sac, scoliosis, and loss of pigmentation, as well as malformations of the head, tail, and eyes. By integrating these abnormalities using the Integrated Biological Response (IBRv2) and General Morphological Score (GMS) indices, we were able to determine that ZFEs exposed to 200 mg/L (T9) exhibited the most pronounced biological response in comparison with the other groups. In the comparative transcriptomic analysis, 66 genes were upregulated, and 246 genes were downregulated in the group exposed to 200 mg/L compared with the control group. In the upregulated genes, we identified several gene ontology‐enriched terms, such as response to xenobiotic stimuli, cellular response to chemical stimulus, transcriptional regulation, pigment metabolic process, erythrocyte differentiation and embryonic hemopoiesis, extracellular matrix organization, and chondrocyte differentiation involved in endochondral bone morphogenesis, among others. In the down‐regulated genes, we found many genes associated with nervous system processes, sensory and visual perception, response to abiotic stimulus, and the nucleoside phosphate biosynthetic process. The probable connections among the morphological changes observed in the transcriptome are thoroughly discussed. Our findings suggest that Sargassum spp. exposure can induce a wide negative impact on zebrafish embryos. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;00:1–15. © 2024 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

show abstract

Pelagic Sargassum in the Tropical North Atlantic

Cited by 98 publications

References 16 publications

Factors controlling the seasonal distribution of pelagic Sargassum

Factors controlling the seasonal distribution of pelagic Sargassum

Predicting Sargassum blooms in the Caribbean Sea from MODIS observations

Sargassum spp. Ethanolic Extract Elicits Toxic Responses and Malformations in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Embryos

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About